Download or read book Mirth and Mayhem Mission Pack 3 written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Suckers earn money. Truly epic idiots trick wizards into making it for them. Chuck Ramsey had come up with the best money-making plot of his entire career. His best friend is an unemployed wizard with a resume that would make a contract killer blush. What simpler way to generate income than to hire him out for high-paying jobs? And since there's a good chance he'd balk at being reduced to a simple paid killer, best not to let on how it all works. What could possibly go wrong? [Editor's note: Chuck, are you even listening to yourself anymore? This is a horrible idea! You're playing games with a man who used to barbecue dark wizards for a living! One of these books, I'm staging an intervention...] Mission 9 - Live and Let Kill Down on his luck and struggling to find work, Chuck Ramsey comes up with a crazy scheme: hire himself. Of course, the trick is to hire himself near where a contract killing needs to take place. Then, he has to trick his best friend, former librarian Mordecai The Brown, to track this guy down thinking the Convocation needs him dead. After that, it's just a matter of collecting a huge windfall. Mission 10 - 50 Ways to Leave a Planet When a scheme unravels, Chuck Ramsey panics. He sends word for his kids to scramble, hide, stay away until the coast is clear. Brad gets this message while watching his sister Michelle, and the two of them take off on an epic adventure to evade the law, criminal syndicates, the Convocation, and their own father--just in case. Mission 11 - Blowin' in the Wind On the run. New identities. Brad takes up an alias to hold down a job as his sister's legal guardian. Meanwhile, Chuck and Mort scour the galaxy for clues as to where the all-too-resourceful teen has hidden out. The only way Chuck will locate his son is to do some parenting and understand what makes Brad tick. Mission 12 - We Drink Alone When Mort gets an order to kill a popular trillionaire beer baron, he declines to take the job. For Chuck, a fan of the Milky Way's favorite beer, Earth's Preferred, not taking the job isn't enough. He convinces Mort that they need to go a step further and stop whoever is hired to replace Mort and protect the beer man from assassination. Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem follows a mismatched duo of itinerant comedian and outlaw wizard as they roam the galaxy trying to eke out a living and stay ahead of the consequences of their actions. Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem looks back at an earlier era in the Black Ocean universe, and returning readers will get to see how some of their favorite characters came to be. Fans of morally gray heroes and slick talking conmen will love this series. Grab your copy before someone else does.

Download or read book Mirth Mayhem Mission Pack 3 written by J. S. Morin and published by . This book was released on 2024-01-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mirth Mayhem Mission Pack 2 written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 752 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If crime paid better, they wouldn't have to do so much of it. Chuck, Mort, and their sometimes-accomplice Brad seek to cheat the galaxy out of an honest living. No law goes unscoffed at. No truth gets uttered when a lie might make more money. And if the job involves murder... well, that's wizard's work. Mission 5: Viva Las Vega IX Gambling, betrayal, and a backroom deal to deliver cargo—no questions asked—collide in a seedy casino with its own comedy club. Plus, a fugitive wizard has found shelter among the upper echelons of a major syndicate. Wait, syndicates control Vega IX? I'm shocked! Mission 6: Ventura Starway In a remote section of space, a convoy of ships gathers around a central flagship to buy, sell, and trade. You can find anything if you're willing to pay the price, including more trouble than you bargained for. This goes double if you're looking to rob the place. Mission 7: Fly Like an Ego Summer camp goes horribly wrong. Instead of racing for fun and glory, Brad finds himself fighting for his life. But what if the pirates who take him hostage happen to be hiring? Mission 8: Sixteen Tomes Mort had one job: track down a dark wizard, kill him, and collect any records of his research. Simple. Done it a hundred times before. But this is the first time it's been personal. Bonus Short Story: Dread Poet Society Emily Chisholm has a plan: finish grad school and settle down with her girlfriend. But when her grandmother summons her home to take her rightful place as leader of the Poet Fleet, Emily's well-laid plans start to crumble. Can the heir to the galaxy's most notorious pirate fleet convince the love of her life to embrace a life of piracy? Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem follows a mismatched duo of itinerant comedian and outlaw wizard as they roam the galaxy trying to eke out a living and stay ahead of the consequences of their actions. Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem looks back at an earlier era in the Black Ocean universe, and returning readers will get to see how some of their favorite characters came to be. Fans of morally gray heroes and slick talking conmen will love this series. Grab your copy before someone else does.

Download or read book Mirth Mayhem Mission Pack 1 written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The galaxy isn't ready for Mort and Chuck. A traveling con man poses as a vintage comedian, touring the galaxy with his wife and kids in tow. When he picks up a hitchhiking wizard desperate to flee Earth, they become a hilarious mixed family. Crime, comedy, and magical mayhem are in store. Mission 1: Know When to Run A prominent wizard makes a deadly mistake and runs out his welcome on Earth. A shady comedian with a family and his own starship decides that a wizard hitchhiker is a risk worth taking. Despite bounty hunters, crime syndicates, and magical law enforcement on their trail, he just may be right. Mission 2: Low Flyer Sometimes lying low means flying low. Chuck and Mort head to a dusty colony in border space, hoping to let their pursuers lose their trail. But old debts and the hijinks of Chuck's son Brad make sure this is anything but rest and relaxation. Mission 3: The Good Die Young Chuck books a gig on a missionary ship operating outside ARGO space. Surely they have to be beyond the reach of the Convocation here, right? As it turns out, wizards aren't the only threat in the galaxy, and beyond ARGO's smothering law and order, pirates operate with impunity. ...and missionary ships are unarmed. Mission 4: Lyin' Guys The missionary ship incident caught the attention of the Convocation all the way back on Earth. Now, suspecting they have Mort cornered, a hand-picked team of wizard-killers is sent to collect his skull. Brute force won't save them. There's nowhere to run. There's only one way out: lying like their lives depend on it. Bonus Short Story: Unfamiliar Customs Chuck Ramsey has never been able to say no to easy money. What could be easier than transporting a family of ratatoret to their new home? Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem follows a mismatched duo of itinerant comedian and outlaw wizard as they roam the galaxy trying to eke out a living and stay ahead of the consequences of their actions. Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem looks back at an earlier era in the Black Ocean universe, and returning readers will get to see how some of their favorite characters came to be. Fans of morally gray heroes and slick talking conmen will love this series. Grab your copy before someone else does.

Download or read book Mirth Mayhem Mission Pack 4 written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crime may kill, kidnap, and blackmail, but it DOES pay. Chuck and Mort up the stakes and up the danger as they get tangled up with a crime syndicate. Meanwhile, we see an older Brad Ramsey turning into the man he'll become. Mission 13: Life is a Crime Wave The Rucker Syndicate as a problem, a snitch working with Earth Interstellar, beyond even their reach. Chuck has just the man for the job, a wizard with a particular set of skills. Brad gets a job with the syndicate as both a promising recruit and an insurance policy to keep Mort in line. Mission 14: Same as the Old Boss Mort gets recruited as the key player in a syndicate coup. Chuck's just holding on for dear life, finally seeing Mort for who he truly is. Brad ends up as a bodyguard for a syndicate princess on the run from kidnappers. Mission 15: Unfortunate Son Earth Navy has started a draft. As an Early Data Era devotee, Chuck Ramsey helps his son dodge it on principle. But Brad is on a self-appointed mission of revenge, and no force of magic of deceit will stop him from joining up. Mission 16: And Drift Away It was too good to last. Without Brad around as the lynchpin, the Chuck and Mort alliance breaks down. With one kid off at war and two rebelling at home, the strain on the family boils over into open conflict. As the children grow older, the family splits up, each on their own new path. (and at least one will go on to get his own series) Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem follows a mismatched duo of itinerant comedian and outlaw wizard as they roam the galaxy trying to eke out a living and stay ahead of the consequences of their actions. Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem looks back at an earlier era in the Black Ocean universe, and returning readers will get to see how some of their favorite characters came to be. Fans of morally gray heroes and slick talking conmen will love this series. Grab your copy before someone else does.

Download or read book Astral Prime Mission Pack 3 written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2019-11-21 with total page 621 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The search for knowledge will be the salvation of mankind... or the destruction of the universe. The temptation of ancient wisdom proved too much for them to resist. Now, Hiroko and Cedric must each face the consequences of the secrets they unlocked—and the terrors they recklessly unleashed. Mission 9: Void Kraken Unleashed from an alternate universe, the space-borne leviathan dubbed "void kraken" terrorizes the galaxy. The most powerful weapons barely scratch it. Whole fleets fall before it. Its movements are erratic. Its motives inscrutable. All anyone knows for sure is that if it isn't stopped, it's going to eat its way through the galaxy. Mission 10: Stellar Rampage The galaxy is in a state of panic. A horror has been unleashed, and it's a threat to every inhabited planet. Luckily, it currently rampages across a sparsely populated part of the Black Ocean. But even that callous view only hold limited hope for the fortunate species whose worlds lay safer by virtue of distance. Sooner or later, someone is going to have to destroy it. Mission 11: Core Threat The galaxy has gone from troubled to doomed. Now faced with a multiplying threat, the races of the Milky Way are faced with a foe who cannot be stopped, cannot be turned back. And yet, for the sake of their own survival, they fight on in the desperate hope that they can hold out long enough to prevail. And they're running out of time. One of the ARGO core worlds may be next on the menu for the world-devouring monsters. Mission 12: Terminal Gambit Cedric has discovered the means to fight back, but the price is high. Not all species are capable of carrying out his methods. It's one thing asking ships and crews to fight; it's another to ask them to sacrifice themselves. And yet, the valiant ships of Earth Navy continue to do so. If only the rest of the galaxy were so brave. Short Story: Two Roads Diverged Two heroes? Two villains? A mix of both? However galactic history comes to view Cedric and Hiroko, they take very different paths to their ultimate destinies. Black Ocean: Astral Prime hearkens back to location-based space sci-fi classics like Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Astral Prime builds on the rich Black Ocean universe, introducing a colorful cast of characters for new and returning readers alike. Come along for the ride as a minor outpost in the middle of nowhere becomes a key point of interstellar conflict.

Download or read book Mission Pack 1 written by J. S. Morin and published by . This book was released on 2015-10 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science to build a starship. Wizardry to take it past light speed. A crew to give it a soul. The Mobius is a cobbled-together ship with a matching crew. Captain Carl Ramsey is an ex-Earth Navy pilot whose crew won't let him fly his own ship. The pilot is his ex-wife, the mechanic is a drunk, and the chief of security is from a predatory species. Instead of a star-drive to travel through the astral space between worlds, the ship's wizard does it by hand. Mission 1: Salvage Trouble A salvage mission turns into a rescue, and no good deed goes unpunished. With two refugees onboard, the Mobius crew is hounded by bounty hunters, border partols, and corporate enforcers. Mission 2: A Smuggler's Conscience "Don't open the package." It's the smuggler's credo for good reason. When the Mobius crew takes a peek at their illicit cargo, the entire job takes an about-face. Mission 3: Poets and Piracy The Mobius crew gets caught in a turf war between a pirate fleet and a galactic criminal syndicate. The trick is getting everyone out alive (and maybe getting paid in the process). Mission 4: To Err is Azrin Sometimes you can't go home again. When a job takes the crew to their security chief's homeworld, she gets dragged into a familial power struggle. Can the rest of the crew bail her out of an old feud gone horribly wrong? Bonus Short Story: Guardian of the Plundered Tomes Mordecai The Brown has been on the run from the Convocation for decades. How does a respectable wizard with a wife and two kids end up crisscrossing the galaxy in the company of outlaws?

Download or read book Astral Prime Mission Pack 2 written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2019-08-27 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They'd discovered an ancient galactic wonder. Then they discovered its owners. By becoming the gateway to the mysterious and incalculably valuable Shadow Planet, Astral Prime had become prime galactic real estate. Poised at a nexus of religious pilgrimage, scientific curiosity, and military obsession, the site could be the key to the future of the Milky Way. Mission 5: Systemic Treachery The syndicate had given her an ultimatum: disappear. Watched and wary, Fujita Hiroko obeyed for years, burying herself in work. Now one of the galaxy's most recognized faces, owner of the universe's must-see tourist trap, she can't hide any longer. And that's going to cost her. Mission 6: Astral Messiah With Astral Prime in chaos, Kendra hatches a desperate attempt to use forbidden alien technology to bring a friend back from the dead. As the struggle for control of the station unfolds, her efforts go horribly awry and plunge everyone into a strange and unfamiliar universe. Mission 7: Parallel Enforcers They toyed with forces they didn't understand. Now, the inhabitants of Astral Prime are going to pay the price. Their foray into an alternate universe has not gone unnoticed. Nor will it go uninvestigated. Mission 8: Multiversal Truth In the aftermath of the station's invasion, Hiroko tries to rally the survivors around a new religion: hers. Combining her knowledge of anthropology with her alien enlightenment, she hopes to bring the galaxy together in spiritual awakening. Meanwhile, Cedric delves into the origins of the stations attackers, seeking a deeper understanding of why they came in the first place. Bonus Short Story: What Kane Did Ever wonder how our favorite crotchety, backstabbing chief engineer got the way he is? The secret lives of Roland Kane unravel in this retrospective short story. Black Ocean: Astral Prime hearkens back to location-based space sci-fi classics like Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Astral Prime builds on the rich Black Ocean universe, introducing a colorful cast of characters for new and returning readers alike. Come along for the ride as a minor outpost in the middle of nowhere becomes a key point of interstellar conflict.

Download or read book Astral Prime Mission Pack 1 written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2018-10-11 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They found a planet where none belonged. They should have left it alone. It is a planet like nothing the galaxy has seen. Found deep in the astral. Inhabited by creatures out of myth and legend. Formerly inhabited by a race far more advanced than anyone could have imagined. And now it's been discovered a bunch of reckless opportunists and enthusiastic amateurs. No one is prepared for what comes next. Mission 1: Shadow Planet Her family's company went bankrupt. With nothing but a failing mining station as severance pay, Director Fujita Hiroko moves to the edge of the galaxy to keep the station afloat. When the nearby planet vanishes with her and her survey team still on the surface, hopes of mining are quickly replaced by a more pressing goal: finding a way back to her station. Mission 2: Wizard Zero When a survey team unearths buildings on prospective mining planet, at first, it’s hailed as an archeological jackpot. But the ancient structures are more advanced than anyone’s seen. And the hedge against technology is a wizard. Mission 3: Shielded Sun With rival factions in orbit around Shadow Planet, the obvious threat was one another. When the defenses of an ancient alien outpost activate, trapping everyone in the star system, it becomes clear that there was more to worry about beneath the planet’s surface than in orbit around it. Mission 4: Prime Guardian The ancient solution to get magic and tech to coexist lies within an alien structure older than any race in the galaxy. Now, the balance of power threatens to tip. As factions reinforce their fleets for a war to claim the ultimate technological prize, Hiroko finds herself trapped between three races—one of them her own—in a quest where even victory promises disaster. Bonus Short Story: Tour of Darkness The galaxy's oldest historical site has become a tourist attraction. It also holds untold secrets that could shift the course of civilization. How far will one lone wizard go to protect the ancient technology that lies within? Black Ocean: Astral Prime hearkens back to location-based space sci-fi classics like Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Astral Prime builds on the rich Black Ocean universe, introducing a colorful cast of characters for new and returning readers alike. Come along for the ride as a minor outpost in the middle of nowhere becomes a key point of interstellar conflict.

Download or read book Salvage Trouble written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The escape pods are long gone. A distress beacon is still active. Chase off the pirates and the wreck is all theirs. What was a crime scene moments before just became legitimate salvage, fair game for an opportunistic starship captain. Carl Ramsey is that opportunist. His crew of misfits includes his ex-wife as pilot, a drunken mechanic, a predatory bodyguard, and an outcast wizard from the Convocation. On their best days, they’re a well-oiled machine, capable of taking on any challenge. In theory. If that ever happened, Carl would be as shocked as anyone. In the meantime, they're a crew in need of terras, and the galaxy doesn't give those out for free. Jobs come and go, but the cost of fuel is always chasing a ship like its own ion trail. A good captain just keeps his crew from killing one another, getting dusted by pirates, and earning however they can. Nobody pays for easy work, and every job comes with its own surprises—never the good kind. Welcome to life out in the Black Ocean. ...where you can’t always get what you want. But if you try, sometimes... You’ll get what you need. Salvage Trouble is the first mission of Black Ocean, a science fantasy series set in the 26th century. Do you wish there had been a second season of Firefly? Do you love the irreverent fun of Guardians of the Galaxy? Have you ever wondered how Star Wars would have turned out if Luke and Obi-wan had ditched the rebellion to become smugglers with Han and Chewie? Then Black Ocean is the series for you! Pick up your copy of Salvage Trouble, and aim to misbehave with the crew of the Mobius.

Download or read book Walk Like a Magician written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The witch is back! Esper tracks the Cult of Ra to an arms factory on a grimy colony world. With limited magical resources, they're reduced to doing their vigilante act the old fashioned way. But when their best efforts fall short, Esper is forced to make an impossible choice. In the aftermath, Esper is going to have to reevaluate her priorities and rediscover what magic means to her. With her powers returned, so has the dark voice that haunts her day and night. A reckoning is coming, and the only way to get out alive is to give in and be the wizard she's always had inside her. Walk Like a Magician is the sixth mission of Black Ocean: Mercy for Hire. It follows the exploits of a pair of do-gooder bounty hunters who care more about saving the day than getting a payday. Mercy for Hire builds on the rich Black Ocean universe and introduces a colorful cast for new and returning readers alike. Fans of vigilante justice and heroes who exemplify the word will love this series.

Download or read book Beyond the Pale written by Mark Anthony and published by Spectra. This book was released on 2011-06-22 with total page 639 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A strange rift in ordinary reality draws saloon owner Travis Wilder and ER doctor Grace Beckett into the otherworld of Eldh--a land of gods, monsters, and magic that is sorely in need of heroes.

Download or read book Extinction Reversed written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These days, even the humans are built by robots. Charlie7 is the progenitor of a mechanical race he built from the ashes of a dead world—Earth. He is a robot of leisure and idle political meddling—a retirement well-earned. Or he was, until a human girl named Eve was dropped in his lap. Geneticists have restored Earth’s biome and begun repopulation. But primate cloning is in its infancy; human cloning is banned. Far from a failed genetics experiment, Eve is brilliant, curious, and heartbreakingly naïve about her species’ history. But Eve’s creator wants her back and has a gruesome fate planned for her. There is only one robot qualified to protect her. For the first time in a thousand years, Charlie7 has a human race to protect. A.I. didn’t destroy humanity. It didn’t save us, either. The robots we built in our final days preserved human minds. They survived the end of life on Earth and embarked on the greatest single project in all recorded history. They rebuilt. The result of 1,000 years of genetic engineering, terraforming, and painstaking toxic cleanup has resulted in the ultimate achievement of the Post-Invasion Age: a healthy human. Her name is Eve14. Don’t ask about the 13 Eves before her. Or do, because that’s the reason why she’s in danger, and why one brave robot puts his millennium-long life on the line to save her. Welcome back to the Golden Age of science fiction, when scientists had planet-sized dreams and robots were robots. Grab your copy while there’s still an Earth left to read it on.

Download or read book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil written by John Berendt and published by Random House. This book was released on 1994-01-13 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city—now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author “Elegant and wicked . . . might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.”—The New York Times Book Review Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. In this sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative, John Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young people dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience.

Download or read book Lyin Guys written by J.S. Morin and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's not the crime, it's the coverup. A missionary ship hijacked by pirates. Legion of armed aliens burnt to a crisp. At the Convocation, something doesn't add up, and when the Grand Council gets word, they launch an investigation. Now, anyone who was aboard the missionary vessel is a suspect. There was a wizard aboard, and until the Convocation inquisitors are satisfied, anyone on that ship might be the most wanted wizard in the galaxy in disguise. Lyin' Guys is the fourth mission of Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem. It follows a mismatched duo of itinerant comedian and outlaw wizard as they roam the galaxy trying to eke out a living and stay ahead of the consequences of their actions. Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem looks back at an earlier era in the Black Ocean universe, and returning readers will get to see how some of their favorite characters came to be. Fans of morally gray heroes and slick talking conmen will love this series. Grab your copy before someone else does.

Download or read book Wicked written by Gregory Maguire and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller and basis for the Tony-winning hit musical, soon to be a major motion picture starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande With millions of copies in print around the world, Gregory Maguire’s Wicked is established not only as a commentary on our time but as a novel to revisit for years to come. Wicked relishes the inspired inventions of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, while playing sleight of hand with our collective memories of the 1939 MGM film starring Margaret Hamilton (and Judy Garland). In this fast-paced, fantastically real, and supremely entertaining novel, Maguire has populated the largely unknown world of Oz with the power of his own imagination. Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin—no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. Still, Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters Shiz University, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz’s most promising young citizens. But Elphaba’s Oz is no utopia. The Wizard’s secret police are everywhere. Animals—those creatures with voices, souls, and minds—are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals—even if it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Ever wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas. Recognized as an iconoclastic tour de force on its initial publication, the novel has inspired the blockbuster musical of the same name—one of the longest-running plays in Broadway history. Popular, indeed. But while the novel’s distant cousins hail from the traditions of magical realism, mythopoeic fantasy, and sprawling nineteenth-century sagas of moral urgency, Maguire’s Wicked is as unique as its green-skinned witch.

Download or read book Among the Enemy written by Margaret Peterson Haddix and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HIDE OR FIGHT? Matthias, an illegal third child, is caught in the cross fire between rebels and the Population Police. When he unwittingly saves a Population Police officer, Matthias is brought to Population Police headquarters to train as an officer himself. There he meets Nina, another third-born who enlists his help in a plot to undermine the Population Police. But Matthias is under constant scrutiny, and he has no idea whom he can trust. What can one boy do against a wicked bureaucracy?